Rotary trash cutter and tilling apparatus



N 947. H. G. TRAVER 4 2,430,148-

ROTARY TRASH CUTTER AND TILLING APPIzRAiUS Origizial Filed March 31, 1944 #w I f INVENTOR'. fl. 6". Tran/er Patented Nov. 4, 1947 ROTARY TRASH CUTTER AND TILLING APPARATUS Harry G. Traver, Cranford, N. J.

Original application March 31, 1944, Serial No.

1945, Serial No. 597,112

8 Claims.

This invention relates to agricultural apparatus for working and tilling the land or ground and preparing the same for seeding and raising of crops, and particularly to means to cut and reduce the size of a cover crop'or other vegetation, such as green manure, stalks and trash, forwardly of means to work and loosen the land to facilitate the mixing and working of such vegetation with the land by the land working and loosening means, the present application being a division of my oo-pending application Se- :rial No. 528,937, filed March 31, 1944.

It is an object of the invention to provide in land working and tilling apparatus of this character means rotatably carried by a supporting structure forwardly of the land working and loosening means to cut and reduce the size of vegetation, such as green manure, stalks and trash, transversely of the path of movement of the land working and loosening means to facilitate the mixing and Working of such material into the soil by said land working and loosening means.

It is another object of the invention to provide means carried by the vegetation cutting means operative by cut vegetation and other material accumulating on said cutting means to clear such material from said cutting means.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter appear.

In the drawing accompanying and forming a part of this application,

Figure 1 is a fragmentary cross sectional view of part of the vegetation cutting means taken on the line l-l of Figure 2 looking in the direction of the arrows and showing means for removing from the cutting means cut vegetation and other foreign substances accumulated there- Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 3 is a view of an end portion of a modified vegetation cutting means.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 44 of Figure 3 looking in the direction of the arrows and showing means mounted on arms carrying vegetation cutting blades for removing from the blades vegetation and other foreign substances accumulated thereon.

The embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawing for carrying out the invention comprises means to facilitate breaking and working of stubble land, or land having a cover crop, such as oats, rye or other vegetation to consti- Divided and this application June 1,

tute green manure, by laying such vegetation over the ground and cutting the same into relatively small size and thus facilitating not only the breaking of the land but also the mixing of the out vegetation with the land by land working and loosening means. Said cutting means comprises a shaft l3 journaled in bearings fixed on side members of a frame M forwardly of the land working and loosening means supported by said frame, as shown in my co-pending application. Spiders 14 including a hub with arms extending radially therefrom and equidistantly spaced about the same are mounted on and rotatable with the shaft 13 adjacent each end thereof, and one or more of such spiders may be mounted on the shaft equidistantly spaced from the end spiders and each other. Cutting blades 15 are releasably mounted on the ends of the spider arms with the cutting edge portion of the cutting blades projecting from the end of the spider arms, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, and extending longitudinally and parallelly of the spider carrying shaft 13. To reinforce the end portion of the spider arms relative to which the cutting blades are mounted, the spider arms are made of increased thickness at the ends for which purpose one surface 16 of the spider arms is flat and extends to the end of the arms, and the other surface of the arms has a portion extending inwardly from the free end and diverging from said surface 16 and merging with a portion converging in a direction toward the spider arms, as shown at I? in Figure 1. The cutting blades are juxtaposed to the flat side of the end portion of increased thickness of the spider arms by clamping members 18 conforming in shape in longitudinal section to the portion 11 of increased thickness of the spider arms and secured to said arms. The flat surface of the clamping members is recessed for the engagement of the cutting blades, said recesses extending inwardly from the end of the clamping members to an extent slightly greater than one-half of the width of the cutting blades and of a depth slightly less than the thickness of the cutting blades, as shown at T9. The cutting blades are clamped between said recessed portion and the flat surface of the spider arms with the cutting edge portion of the cutting blades projecting from the end of the spider arms by bolts 80, the heads and. nuts of which bolts are disposed within recesses in the portion of increased thickness of the spider arms and the clamping members, as shown in Figure l.

The vegetation cutting means M, rotates in a, forward direction and the cutting blades during the cutting operation penetrate more or less into the surface of the land with the result that soil, particularly if the land is moist, and cut vegetation will accumulate upon and between the cutting blades and interfere the cutting of the vegetation by the cutting blades. Means are provided to remove from the cutting blades soil or other material accumulating thereon rendered operative by the accumulation of such material on the cutting blades. For this purpose inwardly compressible and outwardly expansible means are carried by the cutting means disposed in the space between the spider arms adapted to be compressed by material as it accumulates on the cutter means during the cutting operation and to expand as the cutting blades move out of cutting position and operate to remove the material from the cutter means. This means, a .slhoy n Fi res 1 and cam u e u er d iel in mem o e il en fiat m te a fixed at one end, as by riveting, to projections extend n from ens sid Q t d r arms, a at .8 2, and disposed with the U-portion of the members fil extending toward each other, and the other end of said members disposed above the end portion fixed to the arm projections 52,

as shown in i'igure Plates 33 extend between yielding members 8! carried by adjacent spider arms are fixed to the upper end of said yieldn member a by ri et n a sh a t Pia? 3 b in nore l d o d i line with and pi a length equal to the cutting blades and of slightly less width than the distance between the outer surface of the clamping members l8 and the portion of increased thickness 7-? of the spider arms, as shown in Figure i. As the cutting blades l5 cut the vegetation and penetrate into the land, the soil and out vegetation accumulation on or between the cutting blades will exert a force on the plates 83 acting to compress and increase the tensional stress of the resilient supportingmembers Bl which acts as the cutting blades move out of cutting position to exert a i ilifi l u w rd f r e n PIE/59.5 3 to move said plates outwardly and remove material accumulated on and between the cutting blades.

In Figures 3 and 4, there is shown a modified ierm and which may comprise the preferred form cf thecutter means for cutting cover crop and 9 v etat on-.- T u t e s is su antially the same as that shown. in Figures 1 and 2 except that the cutting blades 75 are of spiral form, and to motmt the cutting blades on the spider arms 74 the spiders are mounted on the carrying shaft '53 with the spider arms of sum cessive spiders ofiset circumferentially relative to the spider arms of a preceding spider and thus accommodating the spider arms to the pitch of the cutting blades. The spider arms also carry the resilient supports ill for the plates 83 disposed between the spider arms and operative for removing from the cutter blades soil and cut vegetation accumulated on and between the cutting blades.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In agricultural apparatus, means for cutting and laying over a cover crop and other vegetation, comprising a, rotatable support, cutting blades mounted on the support to extend longitudinally of the support and in radial and cir- ,ciunierentially spaced relation to the axis of the support, U-shaped members of resilient material fixed at one end portion to the rotatable supportbelow the blades and the free end portions of the U-shaped members extending in the plane of the blades, and plates mounted on the free end portions of the U-shaped members to extend between and inwardly of the cutting blades and adapted to compress the U-shaped members by an accumulation of cut vegetation and other material on the cutting blades during the cutting operation and to be moved outwardly by the U-shaped members to remove said accumulated vegetation and other material from the cutting blades during the movement of the cutting blades out of cutting position.

2. Agricultural apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ll-shaped members are mounted on the rotatable support with the U-portions extending toward each other.

3. In agricultural apparatus, means for cutting and laying over a cover crop and other vegetation, comprisin a rotable shaft, hubs fixedly mounted on the shaft infequi-distantly spaced relation and havin arms extending radially from and egui-distantly spaced about the hubs, cutting blades releasably mounted on the free end portions of the arms to extend longitudinally of the shaft with the cuttin edge portion pro- J'ecting from the ends of the arms, resilient members mounted at one end on the arms between the hubs and cutting blades, and plates mounted on the free end portions of the resilient members to extend between and inwardly of the cutting d e o t ons o th cutt n blades a d adapted to compress the resilient members by an accumulatipn of cut vegetation and other material 9& th gu t lade d in h utt g p raiiQ n to e mo ed u rd by t e res lient members to remove said accumulated vegetation and eth mate iel m the cutt ng blade u ing the movement of the cutting blades out of mut n o i n- Agricultural apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cutting blades are releasably mounted on the arms by clamping members having a recess in one face extending from an intermediate portion to one end to receive the blades and th o po e end a a ly secured t h arms.

5. In agricultural apparatus as claimed in Claim 3, wherein the free end portions of the arms are of increased thickness tapering to the free end to reinforce said end portions of the arms, and the cutting blades are releasably mounted on the arms by clamping members conrm ns o the s p o h f e nd o e a m and having a recess in one face extending from an intermediate portion to one end to receive the cutting blades, and. a bolt engaged in the arms and the opposite end portion of the clamping members to releasably secure the clamping member to t arm 5. Agricultural apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the arms are arranged with projections extending from one side of the arms intermediate the ends thereof and the resilient members are mounted on said projections.

'7. Agricultural apparatus as claimed in claim ,3, wherein the arms are arranged with projections .egrtending from one side of the arms intermediate blades releasably secured to the carrier in radial and circumferentially spaced relation to the axis of the carrier, U-shaped members of resilient material fixed at oneend portion to the rotatable carrier inwardly of the blades and the free end portions of the U-shaped members extending in the plane of the blades, and plates mounted on the free end portions of the U-shaped members to extend between and inwardly of the cutting blades and adapted to compress the U-shaped members by an accumulation of cut vegetation and other material on the cutting blades during the cutting operation and to be moved outwardly of the U-shaped members to remove said accumulated vegetation and other material from the 15 cutting blades during the movement of the cutting blades out of cutting position.

' HARRY G. TRAVER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 19 Number Name Date 994,725 Denson June 13, 1911 627,474 Brouk June 27, 1899 747,118 Barker Dec. 15, 1903 1,606,324 Short Nov. 9, 1926 

